Goal: My Steps to Weight Loss with Paleo

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I have a confession to make. I went back on grains in October, which eventually led to being back on sugar. Little by little, it morphed back into my old diet for the most part. And I was reminded how poor that old diet made me feel. Lack of energy was ‘normal’ for so long, and when I went onto paleo for the first time and found out I felt so good I could out-run my kids at a theme park, it drastically changed how I think and feel about food. For the first time, I discovered what it was like to truly eat to live.

The result of my indiscretion? Fifteen ugly pounds parked mostly in my midsection, and it seems like it showed up out of no-where. I feel like I woke up one morning, having gained it all overnight. I realize it didn’t happen that way, but it felt like it was a little-by-little-then-all-of-a-sudden thing. It’s so hard to stay strictly paleo when you have a household that isn’t. But now that has changed. As Jeff works off of his medically prescribed diet, he will be going paleo, as well.

In short, I feel fat. And I hate it. I’m thankful, though, that Jeff’s medical issues kept me from making or baking junk for the holidays, as I would have likely gained much more weight had I not been trying to keep temptation out of his face.

Yesterday, I went back into full-bore, lower carb paleo. What I call lower carb means around 70 grams of carbs a day. So not a super-low carb, Atkin’s style diet, but a diet that allows for all of the non-starchy veggies I want, plus some fruit and a small amount of honey or maple syrup. And I’m going to stay strictly paleo with no grains, beans or starchy fruits/veggies for a while, before I begin any trials of what I can or can not tolerate.

In yesterday’s post, I talked about how I set and meet goals. One of those goals is to get back down to my reasonable weight. I need to lose somewhere in the neighborhood of 15-20 pounds, perhaps a hair more, to be a suitable weight for my frame. I’ve broken those goals down into time periods. I would like to see a drop of about 5 pounds a month, but I won’t be unhappy if we see more. Jeff is also losing weight with me, although he got a jump-start at Thanksgiving and is now on a medically prescribed diet.

Monkey Wrenches

I face two big struggles with staying on the paleo diet. First, the kids continuing to eat food I can’t have presents a regular temptation. Second, the kids are against eggs for breakfast any more often than occasionally.

The foods the kids can have are quick and easy. That’s part of the problem. Carbs and grains are quick and easy. Too easy to grab and put in your mouth before you really think about it.

Not having eggs for breakfast is a tough one when grains are out. They’ll tolerate visible eggs about once a week and I can slip in some invisible ones here and there.

Leftovers for breakfast are out, as we use those for lunches. They fuss over a high-veggie breakfast. Then we have to deal with everyone’s personal preferences. In short, I feel quite stuck.

The Plan

When you have a goal, to achieve it you need to make a plan. To overcome these struggles, I’m doing multiple things. First, I’m going to start wrapping again to help jump-start the shrinkage and tighten up the jiggle that exists. In the past, wrapping tightened it all up even though it doesn’t assist with weight loss. Seeing the progress from wrapping is highly motivating to help me keep on my diet. I also use the Thermofit to help me along by raising my metabolism.

Second, I will be menu planning strictly. Every single meal and snack is planned out in advance so nothing is left to chance. In our household, chance normally means sugar or grains on the fly. I’m also spending an awful lot of time in the kitchen experimenting, on Pinterest and scouring the internet for breakfast recipes or ideas that will make all four of us happy. That’s a huge, tall order to fill.

These together necessitate I re-arrange my schedule, spend more time on preparing food and handle breakfast differently in the mornings. I’m going to have to get up at un ungodly hour a good bit earlier to see everyone fed paleo and out the door in the mornings, since Jeff is up with the roosters leaves for work quite a bit earlier than the kids leave for school. Until now, I haven’t been fixing his breakfast because he’s been consuming gluten. With such a cram-packed schedule, a solid breakfast for all four of us is desperately needed. So an earlier bedtime will be a necessity.

I’m also choosing to shift my bedtime to earlier in the night, because most of my dietary indiscretions happen at night. The later it is, the more I’m tempted to eat sugar. So that means every night I will be in bed by 9:00 or 9:30 with a cup of tea to read and the lights will go out at 10:00pm.

I will also take the time to prep the veggies when we get home from the grocery store instead of through the week, thus removing another barrier to getting a quick meal turned out instead of grabbing some grains or sugar. This will lead into some batch and freezer cooking so I have fall-backs that are on our diet.

This is all going to be fun because I’ve got travel coming up intermittently. While traveling, I will have no way to cook. I’ll just have a fridge in a hotel room. I’m going to have to cook ahead, take my food in a cooler and heat it up in a microwave at the hotel. I will also have to have food pre-prepared for the family to eat while I’m gone.

Look for menus, recipes and updates on the blog as we work our way through these goals. Especially breakfast and snack recipes, as those are the two things that tend to sabotage me most. I’ll also blog about how I decide to handle the traveling. I’ll be chronicling my batch and freezer cooking to cope.

I’ve set some pretty big goals for 2014. I’m going to need all of the energy I can muster to meet them! A paleo diet will be a big chunk of helping me to get to where I want to be with my weight, but also with my other goals.

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I'm KerryAnn Foster, a crazy vibrant Jesus Freak with a heart full of hope. I'm not afraid to love on the least of these or get my hands dirty. This blog is my journey from ineffective, uptight, obese wallflower to a woman on fire for God and living the most vibrant, passionate life possible!

I live in the mountains of Western North Carolina with my husband, Jeff, and our two teens. I blog about self-confidence, health and home, homeschooling and living a vibrant, wide-open Jesus-centered lifestyle. I have over seventeen years of real food, natural lifestyle and health experience. We have homeschooled our children since birth and both Jeff and I run home-based businesses. We're crazy, we know it, and we love every second of it!

I’ll be following with interest because I’m pretty much at the same point. My PCOS is fairly severe and my husband has pancreatitis, but he’s not entirely convinced about giving up his beloved bread.
Fortunately for me, my daughter will take eggs for breakfast for most of the week but my monkey wrench will be school lunches. In New Zealand, there’s no such thing as a school cafeteria and so they eat outside in most weathers. I have until Feb to figure out a lunch menu that will suit these conditions and not make Miss 5 look “different”.
Also, thanks for the reminder about bedtimes – that was a word for me!

I’m just speaking up my mind. Sometimes things that click in your head come from a stranger. I went Paleo for a little bit but I’m not convinced. I don’t think grains and sugar are that evil. The problem is somewhere else, it is maybe in modern life and the stress of modern life. In the past a sweet was meant to be a treat, eaten once in a while, a holiday tradition, not to be eaten every day. It that regard I think is great to have a sweet. I was born and raise in Italy, people eat pasta everyday, and Italians are known for their longevity. Pasta is a small fraction of a meal, you have a little bit of protein, a little bit of vegetables. Dinner is smaller and easier on your stomach. But life is changing also there. The secret? Maybe just learning moderation. Food is good, you eat to nourish and to enjoy yourself, you eat for the pleasure of sharing with family and friends, you eat it because it tastes delicious. If you overeat in general the problem is somewhere else. Paleo to me personally is just a way to refrain myself, because I don’t have discipline.
I am not overweight but I still gained a couple pounds lately, also merit to cookies and brioches I’ve been baking for children.
Thanks for your post, you made me decide a new resolution for me. No more Paleo, just eat mindfully. If a don’t have time to cook a bowl of store bought kimchi and some cheese is great, a slice of tomato and an avocado and a can of tuna is fantastic.
Children will follow soon or later. Life is beautiful!
Cheers

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Meet KerryAnn

I'm KerryAnn Foster, a crazy vibrant Jesus Freak with a heart full of hope. I'm not afraid to love on the least of these or get my hands dirty. This blog is my journey from ineffective, uptight, obese wallflower to a woman on fire for God and living the most vibrant, passionate life possible!

I live in the mountains of Western North Carolina with my husband, Jeff, and our two teens. I blog about self-confidence, health and home, homeschooling and living a vibrant, wide-open Jesus-centered lifestyle. I have over seventeen years of real food, natural lifestyle and health experience. We have homeschooled our children since birth and both Jeff and I run home-based businesses. We're crazy, we know it, and we love every second of it!

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